


Dusty

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Community: 1_million_words, Community: 52_challenge, Episode Tag, Episode: s01e08 Bugs, M/M, Minor Canonical Character(s), Minor Character Death, POV Minor Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-09
Updated: 2013-08-09
Packaged: 2017-12-22 23:27:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/919282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Travis watches Dusty's nephews drive off</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dusty

**Author's Note:**

> Every time I watch "Bugs" I am totally struck by the way Travis reacts when the boys talk to him about "Uncle Dusty" and I can't help but secretly ship the heck out of those two side characters. So I finally wrote something about it. :P
> 
> Written for the prompt "Love" on my 52_Challenge table, and the daily prompt "Deprecate" from 1_Million_Words. Also for my DeepBlueSea trope challenge, "protagonist," which I chose to interpret as 'protagonist of his own story'

Travis watched sadly as Dusty's nephews left. He was still a little surprised that Dustin had never mentioned them, but then, he wasn't the most forthcoming about his past - especially his family. Travis had met Delilah once, when she visited Dusty after her divorce, but Travis wasn't even sure of the names of his other two siblings. It made sense, though, that Dustin would connect with his nephews - he had always been good with kids - though it was a little surprising that they had never visited. Or, at least, that Dusty had never introduced them if they had.

Seeing them had made Travis feel ten times better, though. He had been somewhat at a loss since Dusty's death. They hadn't been anything official - it was hard enough admitting that they liked each other a few years ago, let alone coming out to the other guys on the power crew. They definitely weren't at the living together or wills stage - hadn't even thought about it, to be honest - so Dustin's sister had completely edged Travis out of the proceedings. Not that he was particularly eager to set up a funeral or talk to a lawyer or anything, but part of him felt that he should. Like he owed it to Dustin.

But Delilah didn't care. She didn't even care that Dustin wanted to be buried instead of cremated. He had always loved digging in the dirt, he had confessed one night. It was why he had become a construction worker before specializing as a gas technician. He loved the earth, and he wanted to rest there. But cremation was faster and cheaper and so Delilah had chosen it. And there was nothing that Travis could do about it. She was completely disapproving of their relationship, which she said with finger quotes when telling Travis to get the hell out of Dustin's trailer three days ago.

To hear the boys talk, though, it sounded like Dustin had told them a lot about Travis. Dustin was the quiet one, self-deprecating, who never talked about their relationship, so it was a pleasant surprise to find out that he had confided in his nephews. Maybe not all the details - though they were old enough - but if he talked about Travis to them often... it wasn't much, but it was a hope that Travis clung to. If Dustin had talked about him with the boys, then maybe their relationship had meant more than getting burgers and beers after work and spending the night a couple times a week.

Every night when he got off work and returned to his empty apartment, Travis felt the memory of Dustin's presence fading away. And with Delilah refusing to talk to him, Travis had felt a bit like their whole relationship was fading away - like maybe it had never even happened. Dustin was dead, his trailer was for sale, and suddenly Travis was all alone with only a couple of pictures to remember his lover by.

No one even knew that they had been together.

But it wasn't true! Dusty had talked about him with the boys! He had told them how much Travis meant to him - something he rarely even said to Travis. With those simple words from his nephews, suddenly the rainclouds that had surrounded Travis all week lifted just a little. With Delilah constantly questioning why he even cared about what happened to Dustin, Travis was beginning to wonder it himself. No one knew about their relationship, and they weren't the keepsake kind, so he had very few physical reminders of Dusty. Travis was afraid that soon even he would forget.

The boys had changed that. They knew! They knew who he was, and what he had meant to Dusty. While Delilah had pushed him away, they had sought him out. They made a point to seek him out, tell him how sorry they were for his loss: tell him that Dusty had talked about him. Travis smiled weakly as their car faded from sight. He needed to get back to work, but he couldn't resist watching them leave; they were the last links he had to his Dustin.

He was still alone, but he hadn't always been. And he wasn't the only one who knew that.


End file.
